Just weeks after the New Jersey governor helped reshape the political landscape by flipping four governorships into the GOP column, state executives from Maryland to Arizona were quick to praise Christie — even as they declined to jump aboard his budding presidential candidacy, or even to say whether they think he should run.
Even some of the biggest beneficiaries of the piles of cash Christie doled out as RGA chief wouldn’t embrace his all-but-certain bid.
Republican Larry Hogan staged one of the election’s most surprising upsets in Maryland, and he acknowledged Christie helped “push” him across the finish line: The RGA spent about a half-million dollars on TV ads in the final weeks of the campaign, according to a media tracking source.
But, while Hogan allowed that Christie would make “a great candidate,” the incoming Maryland governor added that “I’m not ready to make any kind of endorsement.”
Christie’s RGA spent 10 times as much — $5.2 million — to help elect Doug Ducey governor of Arizona. But he, too, demurred when asked about his 2016 leanings.
